Buckeyes Get Revenge on Badgers

On February 12th, the then undefeated Ohio State Buckeyes suffered their first loss of the season as the Wisconsin Badgers handed them a 71-67 defeat.

Less than a month later, the No. 1 Buckeyes got their revenge on the No. 10 Badgers with a 93-65 victory in the regular season finale.

With Purdue's loss to Iowa on Saturday, OSU had already locked up an outright Big Ten title coming into their game on Sunday, but that did not deter the Buckeyes from playing with energy and enthusiasm on Senior Night at Value City Arena.

In his last game in Columbus, Jon Diebler canned 7-of-8 shots behind-the-arc while leading the Bucks in scoring 27 points. As a team, Ohio State (29-2, 16-2 Big Ten) hit 6-of-7 three-point attempts in building a 15-point halftime lead, and in the meantime set a pair of NCAA records in the win. The Buckeyes hit 93.3 percent from three-point range, a remarkable 14-of-15, and followed a miss on their first attempt by draining 14 straight triples. The previous mark for consecutive three-pointers made was 11 by Niagara in 1987.

Freshman Jared Sullinger added 22 points while William Buford had 18 and senior David Lighty closed out his career in Columbus with 13 points.

Josh Gasser had 17 points, Jon Leuer 16 and Keaton Nankivil 10 for the Badgers (23-7, 13-5 Big Ten). Jordan Taylor, who had scored 21 of his 27 points in the second half of the two team's first meeting, was limited to a mere eight points on 2-of-9 shooting. He was shadowed throughout the game by Ohio State freshman Aaron Craft.

The Badgers got within 11 points on a Nankivil trey with 14:15 left before the Buckeyes put the game away for good.

Who better to start the onslaught but the senior Diebler who netted a triple? Continuing his three-point exhibition, number 33 hit threes from all over and a step back from downtown pushed the OSU lead to 69-48 capping a 10-0 run midway through the second half.

The remainder of the contest would be time until the Buckeyes could cut down the nets and raise the Big Ten trophy.

Diebler's performance came five days after he tied the Big Ten record with 10 three-pointers made in a game. In case you weren't keeping track at home, Diebler closed out his senior regular season by converting on 17-of-20 from three-point land in his final two games.

Along with Diebler, fellow seniors Lighty and Dallas Lauderdale walked off their home court in the final minute of the game for the final time to a big ovation from the OSU faithful. The senior class sure went out on top having gone a perfect 20-0 at Value City Arena in their final season.

Furthermore, Lighty will leave Columbus with a program-record 123 career wins.

Lighty and the Buckeyes hope to keep adding to that total as they head into the Big Ten Tournament this week in Indianapolis.

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